Monday, 31 July 2017

The Battle of Pilckem Ridge, the opening attack of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele), occurred on this date in 1917.

Edward Cohen, my great-uncle, serving with the 12th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers was mortally wounded in the advance on Bodmin Copse. He was one of 6,525 who died on that day, including 91 from his battalion according to www.cwgc.org. Like 70 others of his battalion his body was not recovered and his name is on the Menin Gate.
He was awarded a posthumous Military Cross which was donated to Queen's College, Cambridge, where he had been a student.
The Third Battle of Ypres eventually cost a quarter of a million British Empire lives.
Read more about Edward Cohen at http://theyserved.wikia.com/wiki/Edward_Cohen